Flanges are typically used to connect pumps or flow controlling devices to a pipe, or to connect a pipe to another pipe directly. Connections of this type are used extensively in the plumbing and heating industry, especially with steel, brass or copper pipes.
A typical piping system includes a copper pipe, a copper adapter having a threaded portion, a pipe flange dimensioned to mate with the threaded portion of the copper adapter, and a circulator having a flange dimensioned to mate with pipe flange. The typical system is assembled together by first soldering the adapter to the copper pipe and allowing the pipe and adapter to cool. The pipe flange is subsequently threaded onto the threaded portion of the copper adapter by rotating the body of the flange using a large wrench. The circulator is disposed such that the flange is adjacent to the base portion of pipe flange and is secured to the pipe flange with bolts.
The current system poses significant problems. First, the force required to attach the flange to the pipe is substantial and a typical flange will not have a shoulder that is designed to serve as a gripping surface for tightening the flange. The absence of this shoulder necessitates the use of a large pipe wrench to attach the flange to the exterior pipe threads of the copper adapter. As the surrounding free space is usually obstructed and quite small, it is often difficult for a user to maneuver the wrench. In addition, the size and shape of the gripping surface may also vary as the flange is turned onto the pipe, thus necessitating the use of more than one wrench. For these reasons, typical pipe flanges are well known as fittings that present a fastening problem.
One particularly common problem is encountered when attaching pipe flanges to pipe ends for connection to circulators, such as those utilized in home heating systems. These flanges are typically elliptical in shape and do not readily accommodate a standard pipe wrench or other tightening device. In addition, when the elliptical ends of the flange have turned within the 180 degrees tightening arc, the wrench must be readjusted, necessitating many fatiguing and time consuming iterations to complete the task. Moreover, as the size of a pipe wrench increases, the length of the handle increases proportionally. As pipe flanges must often be attached to a circulator that is extremely close to a wall, other pipes or, even worse, a corner, the use of a long handled pipe wrench or a pry-bar and long stove bolts to attach the flange to the pipe makes this job a tiring and time consuming one.
One solution to this problem is disclosed in the inventor's U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/897,741, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,331, titled FLANGE TIGHTENING TOOL. This application discloses a flange-tightening tool for use in securing a standard flange to a pipe. The tool has a base plate, a tightening hexagonal shoulder, two attachment openings, and a rotating handle perpendicular to the tightening base plate. The base plate and openings are dimensioned to mate with the flange to be tightened and the rotatable handle is attached to hexagonal shoulder and can be used to position the tool against the flange. In operation, the user positions the tool against the flange, attaches the tool to the flange by inserting bolts through the openings in the base plate, and attaches the flange to the pipe by gripping and rotating the hexagonal shoulder with an appropriately sized box or adjustable type wrench.
The inventor's co-pending application has many advantages over the current flange tightening methods. It eliminates the gripping problems associated with standard pipe flanges by gripping the flange at the mating surface rather than the shoulder. In addition, box or adjustable wrenches having appropriately sized handles may be utilized rather than the long handles associated with larger sized pipe wrenches. Despite these advantages, this solution has not gained acceptance due to the cost of the tool and the reluctance of installers to adapt their methods to new technologies.
Another problem inherent in prior art systems is the need to attach a separate threaded connector to the copper pipe in order to accommodate the threaded pipe flange. The use of such a connector adds to the material cost of the job, increases the time taken to assemble the system by adding a step to the process, and poses some danger to the copper piping system to which it is connected due to the rotational forces exerted upon the pipes through the attachment of the threaded flange. Although it is recognized that a copper adapter is not necessary in prior art systems utilizing steel or brass pipes, the predominant use of copper piping in new heating systems necessitates the use of such a connector in an increasing number of heating applications.
Therefore, there is a need for a means for attaching a flange to a copper pipe that may be utilized to install the flange adjacent to an existing circulator or other flanged device, that may be assembled in close quarters without a large pipe wrench, and that eliminates the need for a threaded copper adapter.